In the above-identified provisional patent application, a support mechanism was disclosed that permitted a vertically oriented, multi-bladed rotor assembly to be mounted within the frame, and on one side thereof, while the other side of the support frame permitted the frame to be mounted to a fixed or movable supporting structure adjacent a water channel, river or other such source of moving water.
As the need for more and a variety of alternative power generating systems rises, a renewed focus has been placed on the ability of hydropower as a source of power generation, and the use of moving water or fluid flows is a readily available source of power for driving devices placed in the flow so that generating electrical energy can take place in an efficient and effective manner. The sources of water power include all those where water or another fluid is moving, whether in rivers, tidal flows, within man-made channels, discharges from factories and other similar moving flows.
It is desirable that these power generation systems and approaches be as unobtrusive as possible, easily installed, by a type of mounting that permits easy repair or alteration of the mechanism being powered by the fluid flow, as well as the ability to move the location of the driven device. The mounting structure must also be secure, rugged, efficient, as inexpensive as possible and yet functional to the point of not obstructing fluid flow or other uses of the moving fluid or the fluid channel as well as being safe to install, to operate, to maintain, remove or move from one location to another.
The present invention achieves these objectives by using a mounting structure that can be mounted easily, permits the raising and lowering of the driven device, and also permits an easy and quick relocation of the driven device.